Language contact and transfer between Somali and English in
Bristol

Somali and English in contact

Dr Jeanette Sakel is investigating language contact, second
language acquisition and bilingualism among speakers of Somali in
Britain. Her main concern is grammatical borrowing and transfer
across different (contact) varieties, comparing first generation
speakers of Somali with the language of those born in Britain. A
number of extralinguistic factors play a role in the project as
well, such as issues of (linguistic) identity, language maintenance
and shift.

Amazonian Languages - Moseten, Chimane and Piraha

Dr Jeanette
Sakel has conducted extensive fieldwork on the Mosetenan
languages Mosetén and Chimane. She is the author of ‘A grammar of
Mosetén’ (Mouton de Gruyter, 2004) and is currently working in
collaboration with Roger Levy (University of California San Diego)
and Ted Gibson (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) on Chimane
cognition. Apart from that, Dr Sakel is continuing to
investigate aspects of language contact and bilingualism among
speakers of Mosetén (with Spanish) and Pirahã (restricted, with
Portuguese).

Textbooks

Dr Jeanette
Sakel has been authoring a range of textbooks, which are
combining her undergraduate teaching and research interests.

Linguistic Fieldwork– a student guide (Cambridge
University Press, 2012, with Daniel Everett) introduces students to
different types of fieldwork – both in exotic settings and ‘at
home’. The book includes many examples, anecdotes and practical
exercises, making the techniques of fieldwork accessible to
students of linguistics.

Study Skills
for Linguistics (Routledge, to appear 2015) is an introduction
to studying Linguistics, from overviews of core terminology often
taken for granted (such as word classes) to study techniques,
research methods, how to do well in exams and essays and how to
prepare for and find employment with a Linguistics degree.

Multilingualism and Language Contact
(Cambridge University Press, to appear 2016) is an introduction to
these fields, based on newest research findings. Incorporating
recurring examples from a variety of multilingual situations, it
focuses not only of the theoretical background, but also on the
practical applications of the subject.